I Understand Your Pain
by Yamiinsane
Summary: Helen discovers a secret pain that might bring her closer to Nikola.


**Disclaimer: I do not own anything Sanctuary. This is also my first fic EVER! Thanks to Samantha Majka for reading this through.**

Nikola Tesla was sitting in his guest bedroom at the Sanctuary looking at a picture of him with someone else when someone knocked at his door.

"Whoever it is, I'm not in the mood so please leave me alone!" Nikola really didn't want to deal with other people today since it was the 10th anniversary of the worst day of his life. Other than losing his anscestry, that is.

But ignoring him like always, Helen Magnus came in and just stood at the doorway looking curious as to why he was secluding himself away when he told her yesterday that he was going to be in his lab working on some new project.

"You said that you were going to be in your lab today, but I see that it didn't happen that way."

"Please, Helen, I can't work when my mind is elsewhere. Especially when I just want to forget what this day represents." Nikola stated, realizing only too late that he'd revealed more than what he wanted... Helen, completely confused, came closer and sat on the edge of the bed and took the picture from his hand. It was a picture of Nikola with a 7 year old girl who had blue eyes, brown hair, and from what Helen could see she looked like a miniature female version of Nikola. When that thought struck her mind, she gasped in realization that Nikola had a daughter as well.

"What happened?" Was all Helen could ask.

"That picture was taken in '92, 2 years after her mother died of lung cancer which, by the way, I did try to cure her of. Nothing I came up with seemed to work." Nikola started solemnly. "Her name was Agata Tesla, my daughter. I met her mother in '83 and somehow ended up in a relationship with her. I still did not see what she saw in me or how she accepted that I was the real Nikola Tesla. She never cared, in fact she loved me even more after I told her the truth as to who I was." Nikola bowed his head not sure whether or not to go on and relive some of the happiest days of his impossibly long life.

"My god, Nikola, Why did you never tell me?" Helen, hurt that he didn't have confidence to tell her and yet wanting to give him comfort because it was obvious that his daughter was dead.

"I never told you because of the pain that I feel every time I look at the pictures of her that I have. Not to mention when Ashley died, I saw myself in you and understood your pain knowing that the Cabal took both of our daughters away from us. This is why I made the choice to help John take them out. Not only to get them off of my back but to avenge my daughter's death at their hands." Nikola stated biting back tears as he remembered the day the Cabal took Agata from him.

_Agata just came home from school and found her father in the basement working on some brand new invention. It was a fairly sized room consisting of one wooden table in the middle and tables and cabinets literally hanging onto all the walls filled to the brim with tools, wires, and other junk that was needed to create whatever either of them wanted to create at that time. Without looking up from his invention Nikola asked, "How was school?"_

_"Boring as ever since I already seem to know everything thanks to you." Agata threw back still not liking the fact that she had to go to school in the first place. Nikola just laughed and stated, "Well I do like to make sure that you are more than one step ahead of everyone else and not to mention I'm trying to teach you how to do just that. You will probably want to explore the world itself when your old enough, I'm just giving you the essentials you will need when that time comes."_

_"Whatever dad, you did promise to take me to Bhalasaam to understand my heritage or are you going to leave me home because I don't like school?" Agata really couldn't wait until she was 18, because that was going to be her birthday present from her father._

_"What you don't want to wait 3 more years? If your good I might get the tickets for this winter break for you BUT you have to keep your grades up and at least pay attention like I never did, but that's beside the point..." He would've finished but their front door was just kicked in..._

_"GO!" Nikola yelled to his daughter, glad that they had an escape route hidden in the mess that was a work bench opposite the main entrance to the basement. They came out of the crawlspace and bolted only to stop dead in their tracks as Cabal agents surrounded them..._

_"Well, Well. I didn't know that you had a child Nikola Tesla." stated Dana Whitcomb, who came to witness this young vampires death in person, "Well you should know that the vampire species should never be revived, so we are sorry to have to do this the hard way. I do hope that you learn your lesson from this." Dana made a gesture to some of the agents and they grabbed Agata then shoved her to the ground and then he was shoved himself onto his knees, helpless even though he probably could have taken them all down but his main concern was Agata._

_"Let her go, kill me instead." Nikola tried to bribe so that she would stay alive. He feared that they would both be dead by the night's end but the father in him had to do anything he could to keep his baby girl alive..._

_"Sorry but it is not negotiable. Too bad that we can't kill both of you... We need you alive for a plan in the future Nikola so you don't need her." Dana then made the gesture to chop off Agata's head._

_"NOOOOOOO!" Nikola never screamed so loud in his life as he witnessed his daughters head land on the ground right next to the rest of her body. That was the last thing he remembered before he blacked out..._

_When he woke up he was still right outside their house, confusion as too why he was there. Then it hit him like 15 semi trucks, his daughters body was still there. She was gone and now he had no child. Nikola never weeped for so long in his whole entire life, holding his dead daughter's body..._

Nikola woke from the nightmare to see Helen crying, muttering, "I'm so sorry. Oh god I'm so sorry Nikola.."

That was when he realized that he didn't just dream it, he'd spoke it out loud... He also realized that he was crying himself and couldn't get it to stop. Helen then got up and came closer to him and wound her arms around him and they both silently grieved Agata and Ashley.

After a few minutes of silence Helen pulled away stating "Now I know why you went with John to take out the Cabal. If you need anything, let me know. For now I know we can help each other get through those difficult times." Nikola looked at her with complete shock that eventually gave him the courage to tell her, "Your the first person I ever spoke that too and your right we can help each other get through our pains." The first glimmer of the smirk that Helen loved so much started to show through, "Well why don't we go to the chapel and pay our respects to our daughters?" This time a smile lit Nikola's face and Helen couldn't help but smile back.

Hand in hand they went to Helen's bedroom to pick up a picture of Helen and Ashley and went to the chapel where they stayed paying their respects to 2 women who would never return to them.


End file.
